60 posts tagged “qotd”
Yesterday was the first day of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese year 4707 is the year of the ox. What's your Chinese zodiac animal and what does it say about you?
My animal is the Horse. My element is the Earth. Upon reading the description on this site, I don't think I am a textbook Horse, but a lot of the traits do describe me. Many of them seem to coincide with traits describing Virgos (my sun sign) and my Myers-Briggs personality type (INFP), all of which also describe me pretty well.
I find anything that helps sum up my personality fascinating. Astrology, the Chinese zodiac, personality tests - I read it all.
Do you believe that employee loyalty still exists in today's work environment? How loyal are you as an employee to your company or boss?
Submitted by Jessmiloo.
I think people want to be loyal, but business doesn't encourage that anymore. Many employees are expected to get more, and better results with fewer, and often insufficient resources. Don't have enough people, equipment, time or money? Doesn't matter - just get it done. Quality gets compromised and work often has to be redone. People want to do their jobs well, and want to be proud of the work they do. So it is incredibly demoralizing to feel forced into producing sub-quality output when you know that you can do better. If only you had a little more time, a couple more people on your team, better equipment or more money to invest into the job.
Go through that cycle a few times and the grass starts to seem greener somewhere else.
A couple of years ago, I had a discussion with my boss. I don't remember the topic of the discussion, but I remember telling her this.
"People blame 'the company' when things go wrong. 'But *we* are the company. All of us, at all levels. Companies are made up of people, and people need to be taken into account when decisions are made. We as a company made the rules, and we as a company can change them when they don't work."
Too often, people want to take the easy way out. It's understandable really. If all you are trying to do is get through your workday so you can go home and be with your family and friends, and pay for your existence, why would you want to rock the boat?
That fear of rocking the boat makes chucking the whole thing and just finding a new job a lot more appealing. Why fight City Hall, when you can just move to a new city?
As for me, all things considered, I am shockingly loyal to my company. I am probably an anachronism. While I am currently on parental leave from my job, I'll have been with the company I work for for ten years this May. This isn't to say that nothing has changed in those ten years. During that time, I've been through four acquisitions/mergers, five name changes, three offices, four cubicles and several bosses.
Why did I stay through all of that?
I stayed through all that because I've enjoyed my work most of the time, gotten along with my bosses, liked my coworkers and generally liked my workspace. (Despite all the changes, I spent the last six years in the same cubicle which had a window view and was really nice. I hear that my department moved floors while I've been at home, so I think that ride is over now.) And while my job is far from perfect (and whose job is?), those things keep my loyalty. I just hope that when I return to work after my leave, those great aspects of my job are still there.
It's New Year's Eve! How are you celebrating tonight?
Concert ticket stubs: do you toss them after the show, or keep them for the memories?
My concert tickets usually get thrown out after months hanging around in my purse or jacket pockets. Sean keeps his so I go to him for any necessary memory-jogging. (This is another reason why I hope we'll never get divorced - how will I ever remember the details of the concerts we've gone to together?)
Back in 2006, I bought Sean a ticket storage album for Christmas. It was essentially the same as a cheap photo album, but the pockets were sized for tickets, which made it a little nicer than the cheap photo album he was using at the time. To make it extra nice, I made custom covers for it:
I listed out 50 different bands we (or in some cases, just he) had seen over the years. The large names were groups he's either seen many times, or in the case of Guns 'n' Roses, had waited a very long time to see. The printed version of the front cover has the same list printed watermark-style but that seems to be hard to see on (my) screen. Some bands are groups I like more than he does, and some were just seen in short festival slots. The list isn't as diverse as I'd like to think it is, but it does make me giggle to see that the same person went and saw Sarah Harmer and Slayer and enjoyed both.
How do you feel about your birthday? Do you look forward to it and remind all your friends, or do you dread it and try to keep it a secret?
I'm all about celebrating my birthday. I'm not as vocal about it as I used to be, but if someone wishes me a happy birthday, I really appreciate it. It's such a warm fuzzy feeling to be remembered on your birthday.
I have to admit, one of my favourite Facebook features is the birthday announcements on the home page. I like seeing who is having a birthday so I can remember to drop them a note. Share the warm fuzzy feelings. It's a small gesture, but a nice one.
I turn 30 this year and I've had a few people ask if that bothers me. It really doesn't. Age is just a number, and while I didn't know who I would be at 30 when I was 10 or 20, I think I'm essentially the same person as who I was then. Maybe a little more mature, a bit fatter, but essentially the same person. I believe in seeing the world with a sense of wonderment and adventure. I try to notice the small things. I think that keeps me from feeling too much like a "grownup" (read: stuffy, boring, strict etc.). So hopefully when I celebrate my next birthday, I will continue to be who I am, but maybe a little bit better.
What are five words you really like?
Submitted by purplesque.
- Rumpus
- Pants
- Ginormous
- Socks
- Giggle
Look! No swear words!
How far from your last home do you live? Why did you move and are you glad you did?
Submitted by Matthew 25.
I live about 15-20 minutes away from my last home. We moved because we bought a house, and we are very glad that we did.
I liked my apartment, but thinking about it now, it was never really home-y. It felt like a bunch of furniture crammed into a small space. Probably living there during my early 20s didn't help. I didn't have the time, money or ambition to really make the place my own beyond this huge poster in Sean's and my bedroom.
Now I feel settled. And I can control the thermostat. It really is the little things.
What are your rules for where your pets sleep? Are they allowed on your bed or do they have their own?
If I had my way, the dog and cat would sleep somewhere else. Sean is a softie though, so we leave the bedroom door open so they can roam freely throughout the house as they wish. They usually end up with us in one way or another.
Leia has her own bed at the foot of ours, but she usually gets in with Sean and I as we are going to bed. She's a good-sized dog, and therefore takes up a lot of real estate if she is spread out. She tries to get in between us, but she crowds so we usually have to move her to the corner of the bed beneath Sean's feet. She usually ends up in her bed by the time we wake up in the morning so I suppose we crowd her out. It's our bed, so that's allowed. If one of us is away, the dog has been known to spoon right into the other person, which makes for a shock when they wake up.
BucKley the cat on the other hand usually wanders. He likes to get behind Sean's pillow and snooze, but that's usually after he's walked all over the bed to check things out. If my hair gets stepped on inadvertently, he gets a stern talking-to that may end in temporary banishment. In the morning he often is sleeping at my feet which gets a little crowded once I start waking up and moving around to stretch.
The system seems to work for us, but I wish our bedroom was big enough to accommodate a king-size bed. Then everyone could sleep together without all the crowding.
Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?
It also reminds me of my high school years as a band geek. Christmas is the best time to play bells and percussion because then you get to shake the sleigh bells, which really only come out during this time of year.
Who's the most surprising rookie in the NFL this year?
Football is the game with the pointy ball right? (I never get tired of that joke.)
Not to be a complainer, but I think the subject of the QotD needs to be mixed up a bit.
